The bolts were 1/4' tapers on the F.A. I heard many of them were replaced on the 2nd. We didn't have enough hangers for all of the bolts, plus it was easier to stand on the bare studs when "freeing" the moves.

It would be impressive if there had been a 2nd free ascent after only 30 some years. What shoes/rubber were used?

Here is an email from Alex, describing the current condition of the bolts.
We were trying to arrange the bolt replacement (which Alex calls "retro").
Roger and I will try to refurbish it next summer, by coming in from the top;
in the meantime it's chalked and ready to climb!

------

As it turns out I went up there yesterday with my girlfriend [she jugged, it
was a nice learner wall] and sent the thing before I checked my email. So
now I'm not nearly as motivated to retro bolt it, thought it does need a
little bit of love.

But in case you guys ever decide to go up there, here's the whole deal:

First few pitches are awesome ASCA bolts.
Then the pitch that breaks left into the "springtime dry variation" has
crushed hangars because the roof that's shown on the topo on the Spring dry
pitch has fallen off. The topo shows climbing over a little roof/corner
thing with a bolt on it - that whole section of the mountain seems to have
fallen down [no more bolt but fresh scars] and smashed the pitch below it.
Doesn't really matter, doesn't effect the grade or safety - you can thread
the crushed hangars with nuts and place natural gear through the scar.

The main safety issue is that the Steel wall pitch is missing the bolt that
protects the crux. I don't like to be over dramatic, but I was really
scared. You can see where the old 1/4 bolt sheared. I was gripped. It's run
out.

Above that is all old 1/4 inchers [some falling out, spinning hangers, etc]
until you get to the Hang Bivy which has been retroed with 3/8s [except one
of them has been smashed and isn't clippable]

Above that is all old 1/4 [again, some falling out, missing hangars, etc -
but all usable and fairly safe feeling] until you get to pitch 12 I think,
then some new 1/4ers start to make an appearance. I was so psyched to see
the new 1/4ers. Then from there to the top it's all pretty reasonable,
except that the anchor on 14 is total bullsh#t. Old 1/4ers with homemade
looking hangers that look dangerous to me.

We simul rapped the route so we left slings and biners on a bunch of the
anchors. Well, all the anchors I think. We rapped from the top of 15, like
it shows on the topo. I sort of wanted to climb the last pitch and go to the
top but with Stacey jugging and limited gear it seemed kinda epic.

It's an amazing route, such a testament to that kind of old school style.
Pretty exciting but never really dangerous.
It's super chalky right now if you want to check it out. Good to go until
the next rain!

Feel free to spread this report to anyone who cares. More people should
climb the route, and people shouldn't be intimidated by the bolting [except
the missing one, which is kinda messed up]. Even though they're old and
shitty it's still pretty reasonable.

Hahah oh I just remembered that one of the anchor bolts on 11 or 12 fell
out, so that's kinda messed up too. But still, it's kinda ok.

Hope you head up there some day. It's amazing. As the wall steepens it gets
more featured and fun to climb. I was so psyched for all the little crimps
instead of just blank glassy smearing.

First Descent From The Rim.
Clint Cummins and I went on Sunday and rappelled the route from the rim. anchors from pitch six and up all have a new 3/8 bolt on them. we also replaced the missing bolt on the steel wall pitch. There is much more work to be done, the anchor on top of P5 is missing entirely. the bolts on P7 are shaky. It got dark on us at P7 so I could not see the full condition of the lower part Of P6 or 5and 4. We are hoping to have it all rebolted by next fall. So if you want the hoobly 1/4" experience that Alex got you will have to act fast. good luck, Chris

Pretty sure this isn't the 3rd ascent. A roommate of mine about 10 years ago said he did it in the late 90s I think. I won't throw a name out since I could be mistaken but will drop an email to him and see what the story is. He called it a "career highlight" and described climbing with different shoes on each foot for some crux pitches.

Awesome it's getting some more attention though! Way to go after EVERYTHING Alex!

If you ever wondered exactly where Hall of Mirrors goes on the Apron, this should show you.
So many hard pitches up there, and p13 is especially beautiful/impressive!

It was a great adventure day trip up there on October 30 with Chris.
As Chris mentioned above, we replaced/placed new stainless 3/8" bolts with single ring hangers at each anchor 6 to 16 (all courtesy of ASCA or borrowed from the boxes Bob Steed bought last year, plus 3 of Chris's), and Chris replaced the Steel Wall p6 crux bolt in the dark.
Here's my photo trip report:http://www.supertopo.com/tr/Hall-of-Mirrors-rebolting-October-30-2011/t11249n.html

Matt M:
Please post up the details if you get them (you also mentioned this in the 2008 thread).
If your roommate was Jonny Woodward or John Bercaw, that was the 2nd ascent in 1992.
The info I have on repeats is here:http://www.stanford.edu/%7Eclint/yos/longhf.htm#apron

Kamps and i were planning to push on up the right side of Perhaps and then on up to the rim, but ran out of daylight and never got back to it

...

also wondering about rappel bolts on the left side of Goodrich?

there are some small ledges there, to the right of your pitch 3 number; where Jim Baldwin and i were hanging on two 1/4" bolts; and he threw a horror show temper tantrum about hung-up rappel ropes; and i had to hand-over-hand at dusk up a single stuck 5/16" goldline rope to free it...twice

Jim Baldwin and i did that route on the left side of Goodrich on the day before he was killed on the East Face of Washington Column. i declined the invitation to do that with him; but Royal was recommending we go back and do the right side of Goodrich in a couple of days

...

Clint, are you able to extend your photo composite over towards Coonyard?

> Kamps and i were planning to push on up the right side of Perhaps and then on up to the rim, but ran out of daylight and never got back to it

That first pitch off The Smile is quite steep and blank for a few moves (5.11b friction).

> also wondering about rappel bolts on the left side of Goodrich?

They were old when I last used them, but Roger should have replaced them in 2009. The last report I heard said maybe some were gone, but there was a gap between anchors where you downclimb 3rd/4th class. So I'm not sure at present what their state is. It is always the way I've rapped from Goodrich. Last time I climbed out via Galactic Hitchhiker, though.

> Clint, are you able to extend your photo composite over towards Coonyard?

Matt M:
Please post up the details if you get them (you also mentioned this in the 2008 thread).
If your roommate was Jonny Woodward or John Bercaw, that was the 2nd ascent in 1992.
The info I have on repeats is here:

Clint,

My buddy prefers not to put a name out there. Not a huge fan of publicity or more so, internet forums. I take him at as his word though.

That said he did provide this:

I assumed several others had done it before me based on the various colors of fixed webbing left all the way up it.
I know several others who have done it up to pitch 10.

I also recall him talking about wearing both a smearing shoe and edging shoe for the mostly sideways crux pitch. I can only assume he means pitch 9. He described it as climbing up and sideways all the while "falling". If you stopped moving you would come off.

He also brought up the question of if that rock fall had changed the lower pitches at all such that AH's ascent would be a FA of the altered route? Any signs of significant change?

Thanks for what you were able to tell us.
Too bad he doesn't want to use his name; that makes it harder to keep a history, but maybe few care.
Got a month/year for the ascent, though? I think you said late 90s.
Any description from him on what the 13th was like?
Did he lead everything and partner used ascenders?

Personally, I don't think different colors of webbing implies different people climbed it. For example, I brought booty slings with me to leave. Most of them were different colors.

The rockfall of 5/2009 appears to have removed some bolts, like the crux bolt on p6 (Steel Wall), and the anchor at (5). So Alex climbed via the Springtime Dry Variation. I don't think missing the original p4, p5 is significant in terms of repeating the route, as all the hardest pitches are on p8 and higher. But they are classic friction pitches, often done in the 80s to The Hang, and their bolts will be restored.

Assuming somebody did the route with MattM's mystery man - maybe he'd be willing to talk about it. Except for wearing 2 different types of shoes (which sounds effective) the story seems a little fishy the way it has been presented so far.

All who have done the entire route say that the "Unfinished Ninth" is the crux pitch. But there are so many variables like heat and the friction co-efficient of different kinds of rubber. But the consensus seems to be that the 9th pitch is the hardest on the route. JW told Al Dude that it was, yes, .13. But I bet there aren't that many hard friction pitches out there to compare it to. It does seem that if you can "stick" the 9th, you can certainly do all the rest.

Only one problem with that, Cosmic, is that sticky rubber has a tendency to "ball up" on glacier polish and in the process, roll off. Can't really say for certain until you take a pair of shoes with that rubber up there. If the temps are too high, sticky rubber will start to slide down the face, resulting in little bits of rubber tearing off and functioning like ball bearings under your feet. The rubber on Contacts was great to smear with on the lower pitches, but on the upper pitches of the H of M they didn't edge that well. However, if the rock is dry, clean and cool, this new rubber might be amazing.

The bolt replacement on the "Hall of Mirrors" was completed yesterday. We still have ropes fixed to the top of the 13th pitch. We will leave the ropes in place for probably another week. All the ropes except one are dynamic. The ropes are kinda snug anchor to anchor so they don't get blown around. Feel free to Mini-Trax or whatever, just leave the ropes as snug you found them when you are done.
Roger

It's pretty easy to just go over there and check it out.
15 minute walk to the base.
The first pitch is glassy and runout - you can see all the bolts,
so you can see what it's like.
If it looks good, try it.
If you get stopped, no big deal, you just rap down the route.
If you are not sure about your slab skills, try something easier first,
like Sailin' Shoes.

Anyone get on this thing? Stories of recent ascents? Failures? Bailures?

Around 1984 I swapped leads on the first five pitches with an exceptional face climber/ranger (at the time) from Devils Tower named Lynn Wolfe. When it became my turn to lead the first 5.11 pitch (at the time, P5) I hucked off twice; the second time losing my glasses and getting the wind knocked out of me in a backwards tumbling fall when my foot slid into a bolt; this after maybe 340+ feet of sustained climbing with far too few bolts. We retreated shortly afterwards, and I still consider that one of my climbing high points and finer on-sights, due to the poor/scant conditions of the bolts and the commitment required.

It would be big fun if Woodward and Honnold would chime in and compare notes on the "hardest Grade VI in the world."

You mean the Dawn Wall?

Kidding, back to HOM,

Actually, I've got some notes for the first few pitches. The first two are killer .10d's, kicked my ass. Then we hit a run-out .10a pitch that was wet and I caught Rubine three times, takin' 50+ whippers. I pulled in handfulls of rope so he wouldn't swing through the belay. But my notes end there.

Just read through this thread. Brings back some memories. Such a high quality route.

Also saw this quote from Honnold taken from his email (in one of the first page posts) ...

"We rapped from the top of 15, like
it shows on the topo. "

The 165' rappel note at the end of P15 was to show that you could actually bypass a diagonal rap to the Flake in the Sky anchor back when 50m ropes were the longest you could buy, not a mandate to go down before the end.

Too bad. All that effort and he was just one pitch away from doing the 3rd ascent.

jw

PS. Yep, this is clearly still harder than the Dawn. No doubt about it. Neither Caldwell nor Ondra have done it, after all.

The 165' rappel note at the end of P15 was to show that you could actually bypass a diagonal rap to the Flake in the Sky anchor back when 50m ropes were the longest you could buy, not a mandate to go down before the end.

Too bad. All that effort and he was just one pitch away from doing the 3rd ascent.

Did not Honnold on-site all but the last pitch of Mirrors? And if so, is he not the only one to do so? Which could possibly mean who cares if he didn't do the last pitch which Woodward downgraded to 10d? I'd say the kid's a pretty fair slab climber......

I soloed it right after doing it with a rope and felt quite solid. All the rules of climbing don't apply to the Apron and I felt that the fall was reasonably survivable at the time. Coulda' been glacial polish Geek Skiing at its finest!

Bruce....you are right...hard for me to tell what was where on topo....but 11.c? No problem. Just defending what is a truly clean ascent (?) from being poo pooed because he didn' t climb last pitch......

Think that Alex Honnold climbed the first 9 pitches through the 5.12c crux the first day. Then, went back and re-led the first 9 and continued on up to the top of the 15th the second day. Don't know any of the particulars beyond that. If you can do the Unfinished 9th, everything is feasible after that.

My only HOM story is a recent one (of sorts) and comes from this last fall (2017) in the Valley.

Had just finished packing up for a project me and Clint have been playing with and I see Honnold walking by the Awahnee parking lot with some friends...so I (being the shy flower I am) say "Hey Alex" and walk over to say hi and try to pimp him a little on this or that without being too shameless a fanboi etc....

Alex asks what am I up to and I say "Oh, me and Clint have some damn project, we gotta hike North Dome gulley this morning...ugh"....

And Alex says..."CLINT??? CLINT CUMMINS????"

And I say, yea he's over there back at the truck....

Alex says oh I gotta thank him for rebolting Hall of Mirrors so Alex runs over there to say hi to Clint and thank him for his and Roger Brown's efforts rebolting the anchors and much of the route with SS hardware.

When I heard about Alex Honnold leading the Steel Wall 6th pitch with a missing bolt at the crux, I almost went catatonic. That truly sounds horrendous with a big scoop under the crux. You'd be flying that's for sure. Hats off. Definitely not a nonchalant thing to do.